The World Academy for the Future of Women aims to build leadership focused on achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals of ending poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS and malaria, and ensuring environmental sustainability. It provides numerous facts showing that poverty, lack of education, and gender inequality remain serious global issues, such as that over 1 billion people live on less than $1 per day, 115 million children do not attend primary school, and the employment rate for women is 2/3 that of men.
8. FACT: Undernourishment is responsible for 55% of the deaths of children under the age of 5. 事实:由于营养不良导致5岁以下 儿童死亡率高达55%
9. FACT: Every 5 seconds, a child dies from hunger. 事实:每隔5秒钟,就有一个儿童死于饥饿
10. FACT: Every day, 50,000 people die as a result of poverty. 事实:每天有5万人死于贫困
11. FACT: By the end of 2009, 100 million more people will suffer from poverty. 事实:到2009年底将有1亿多人 面临贫困危机
12. FACT: 500 million people in the world are chronically malnourished. 事实:全球有5亿 人处于长期营养不 良状态
13. FACT: 115 million children around the world do not attend primary school. 事实:全球有1亿1千5百万儿童 不能上小学
14. FACT: Over 100 million children around the world have never been in a classroom. 事实:全球有超过1亿儿童从未进过教室
15. FACT: 1 billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a newspaper or sign their name. 事实:21世纪全球有10亿人不能读报纸或 写自己的名字
16. FACT: Educated women are three times more likely to take part in political meetings. 事实:受过教育的女性参与政治会议的欲望比没受过教育的高出3倍
17. FACT: Young people who have completed primary education are less than half as likely to contract HIV as those missing an education. 事实:完成初等教育的年轻人感染艾滋病毒的几率比没有受教育的人要少一半
18. FACT: A single year of primary education correlates to a 10-20% increase in women’s wages later in life. 事实:每完成一年初等教育,女性今后的工资就可能上涨10-20%
19. FACT: In 2003, women held only 15% of the seats in national parliaments. 事实:2003年,女性在国家议会只占15%的席位